attacking castles

[possum]

how many poeple do you need to take a castle hold by 100 defenders?
i would like to know what kind of armor/weapons do you use and which tactics do you use... and what difficulty do you play with?

i am asking because i cant take such a castle with less then 80 man, t3 or higher and i read that some players can take major cities (250-300 defenders) with 50-70 soldiers. for me it seems impossible.

 

[Dragon13]

High tier soldiers. Can break through low tiers like butter...that melted and can be kicked. Only some people slip and get major wounds in the head.

 

[LBaeldeth]

High-level soldiers are the best for this, as they're tougher, better armoured, better armed and better skilled. Many swear by Nord Huscarls for sieges - I've never been able to raise an appreciable force of them myself, so I can't say.

As for those who overcome a fully garrisoned city with 50-70 soldiers, I suspect they're either using decreased damage, or an extremely high-level character they've become very adept at handling. Or both. Either way, don't worry about replicating their feats just yet.

I play on 107% difficulty, full damage, full battlesize, etc. Personally, the closest I've come to taking a city with a small force has been slightly over a 1.3:1 attacker/defender ratio. I follow this strategy: Put as many marksmen or sharpshooters on the field as you can and have them hold ground in a position where they can swamp the walls with fire. Place your infantry in front of them as shields. Take a ranged weapon yourself and snipe any archers in positions flanking the siege tower or ladder. Once they're cleared out, send up your infantry in the first assault. Keep your own archers on the ground and firing. Once you break onto the walls, move your archers up onto the battlements to fire down on the enemies in the courtyard. They can also help keep the ladder secure if your infantry is pushed back.

I also suggest outnumbering the defenders if possible, as it will mean fewer enemies on the wall. Also, until you're very high-level, well-armoured and proficient in surviving close-quarters melee, let your soldiers do the brunt of the fighting. If they die, you just get reinforcements, but if you die, they retreat and you have to rebuild all your siege equipment.

 

[Tyfedo]

High-level soldiers are the best for this, as they're tougher, better armoured, better armed and better skilled. Many swear by Nord Huscarls for sieges - I've never been able to raise an appreciable force of them myself, so I can't say.

As for those who overcome a fully garrisoned city with 50-70 soldiers, I suspect they're either using decreased damage, or an extremely high-level character they've become very adept at handling. Or both. Either way, don't worry about replicating their feats just yet.

I play on 107% difficulty, full damage, full battlesize, etc. Personally, the closest I've come to taking a city with a small force has been slightly over a 1.3:1 attacker/defender ratio. I follow this strategy: Put as many marksmen or sharpshooters on the field as you can and have them hold ground in a position where they can swamp the walls with fire. Place your infantry in front of them as shields. Take a ranged weapon yourself and snipe any archers in positions flanking the siege tower or ladder. Once they're cleared out, send up your infantry in the first assault. Keep your own archers on the ground and firing. Once you break onto the walls, move your archers up onto the battlements to fire down on the enemies in the courtyard. They can also help keep the ladder secure if your infantry is pushed back.

I also suggest outnumbering the defenders if possible, as it will mean fewer enemies on the wall. Also, until you're very high-level, well-armoured and proficient in surviving close-quarters melee, let your soldiers do the brunt of the fighting. If they die, you just get reinforcements, but if you die, they retreat and you have to rebuild all your siege equipment.

Dude, taking a city with 50-70 soldiers isn't so rare. I remember taking all of Khergit Khanates citys with about 60 Huscarls. Then again, Huscarls against Khergit crap-asses isn't a fair fight. Against Rhodoks it works too. And that goes with full difficulty settings on. A huge factor is your battle size though. Nowadays, when I have set battlesizes to 300, sieging has become more and more difficult. It has become more realistic, one could say. Castles were hard to siege, and you did need a far more superior number of troops. And to my role in sieges, I just stay on the ground and try to support my troops by shooting the archers on the walls.

 

[RalliX]

I often cheat in the game(but not always).  And what i have noticed is that even on full damage for my troops and full battle size, If your troops are all elite, you can take any castle.(especially with huscarls)

As is why I am Nord!

 

[Monglor]

I often cheat in the game(but not always).  And what i have noticed is that even on full damage for my troops and full battle size, If your troops are all elite, you can take any castle.(especially with huscarls)

As is why I am Nord!

There are a few good ways I know to take a castle, the first, as mentioned above, is use Nords. Any mod that has nords or nord-like axe wielding infantry-focussed armies they will probably be the best castle cracking force you can get. The second way, if you can't get Nords, is use archers. Lots of them. Turn up at the walls with them, form a line at the bottom of the ladder, and just shoot anybody you can. Then leave, come back, and do the same over and over again. Eventually you should wear them down, but it can be a problem if rescue arrives.

 

[bigmark]

i often lead 50 king's berserker, its unstopble,

 

[kt0]

Dude, taking a city with 50-70 soldiers isn't so rare. I remember taking all of Khergit Khanates citys with about 60 Huscarls. Then again, Huscarls against Khergit crap-asses isn't a fair fight. Against Rhodoks it works too. And that goes with full difficulty settings on. A huge factor is your battle size though. Nowadays, when I have set battlesizes to 300, sieging has become more and more difficult. It has become more realistic, one could say. Castles were hard to siege, and you did need a far more superior number of troops. And to my role in sieges, I just stay on the ground and try to support my troops by shooting the archers on the walls.

My experience pretty much mirrors all of this.  With my testing of the autoresolver, I've spent a lot of time letting guys go nuts in sieges to see how close the results are.  I can usually take my pick of castles with 70 or so Huscarls suffering no more than 50% casualties and that's with a test character with zero surgery standing in a shaded corner.  Garrisons tend to not be full of top-tier troops and Huscarls mop up non-top-tiers.  If I tested attacking a castle with the same size and composition force that was defending, I bet I'd lose every time. 

Battle sizes do have a pretty significant effect on the difficulty of taking a center like Tyfedo says.  I can't run with more than about 200 but there's a *huge* difference between 100 and 200.  I love having the battle size cranked up; it makes everything feel more epic. 

 

[King Yngvar]

Make sure you are first in and do the hacking. Your soldiers is not worth anything but giving you backup.

 

[possum]

everytime i went first i got killed within seconds. first i get hit by some arrows while climbing the ladder and then hunderds of axes, swords and spears kill me as soon as i reach the wall.

 

[Gunrunner]

You seem like your attacking the Nords, a bunch of tough bastards...well best to fight fire with fire, swarm them with an army of your Nords.

 

[LBaeldeth]

Dude, taking a city with 50-70 soldiers isn't so rare. I remember taking all of Khergit Khanates citys with about 60 Huscarls. Then again, Huscarls against Khergit crap-asses isn't a fair fight. Against Rhodoks it works too. And that goes with full difficulty settings on.

I said decreased difficulty or a high-level character, and if you're running round with 60 Huscarls and replacing the casualties at will, you're high-level. It wasn't a dig at people who manage to do this sort of thing; I was just reassuring the guy that he doesn't have to try and storm the walls with 50 brave men and no more just yet.

 

[WebSite]

Surviving a siege if you're at the first line is a matter of armour, last time i attempted to take suno ( i failed darn) i managed to take about 50 guys on my own before i was knocked unconscious by a lucky headshot >_<

Lovely Lordly Plate armour xD

Anyways if you can withstand the starting wave of spear/swords/axes/waffles, head to the towers near the ladders and clear them of archers, those are a pain in the arse for your tropps trying to climb the ladder ;P

 

[King Yngvar]

Heavy armor, shield, jeweled sword and ranged equipment and I am ready to take the castle mostly by myself.

 

[AA0]

It really depends who you are taking the castle from, the Vaegirs, Nords and Khergits are all pretty poor on castle defense.  The nords are the best of the three but slashing weapons are no match for heavy armour.  The Swadians have massive amounts of low level troops, more than other factions, and they are welding picks that chew through armour.  The Rhodoks have piercing weapons everywhere and take a much larger force than anyone else to overtake. 

 

[Lord Shields]

how many poeple do you need to take a castle hold by 100 defenders?
i would like to know what kind of armor/weapons do you use and which tactics do you use... and what difficulty do you play with?

i am asking because i cant take such a castle with less then 80 man, t3 or higher and i read that some players can take major cities (250-300 defenders) with 50-70 soldiers. for me it seems impossible.

For most towns and castle I only need one good soldier who can stay on his feet and distract the enemy. I jump over the defenders and get them in the back while the team distracts them to the front. I probably rack up more solo kills than the team kills combined.

But in all seriousness I bring about 75 or so.

 

[Cow]

Once you hit level 30+, you're pretty much invulnerable, except when enemies decide to mob you. (Damn you, Varangian Berserkers!)

 

[AlienKnight]

...
Castles were hard to siege, and you did need a far more superior number of troops. And to my role in sieges, I just stay on the ground and try to support my troops by shooting the archers on the walls.

That's right, the castle builders learned over time and finally they started to build castles that were impossible to be taken by storming the walls (see Malbork castle, the largest medieval castle ever built), and the besiegers had to starve the defenders out while the defenders waited for a rescue from outside (see Orleans siege during a 100 Years War). That changed again after the artillery use has been mastered.

 

[AlienKnight]

Well, it does depend on the castle. There are some castles you nor your enemies can use the numbers and it is more 4 vs 4 combat there, so top tier infantry has an important advantage.

It is essential to eliminate the archers on the walls or your troops on the ramp or ladder will be shot to pieces before they breach the wall and get in. So, I snipe them from a location I am not under fire.
And actually I have less causalities when the siege is with the siege tower than with a ladder, just because I have more time then to give every enemy archer a head shot .

I let my troops lead the way and once the wall is breached I follow them and:
1. if I can pass the fighters I try to put myself in a location I can cut the backs of the enemies. The AI is quite stupid (with the best AI setting) and they tend to ignore me.
or
2. I get to a second row, where I will not get a axe struck on my head and swing a long reach weapon
or
3. I find a suitable location and snipe at the defenders.

With difficulty settings at 101% I attack the Nord castles being outnumbered 2:1 and the causalities are some 10 - 20%. So, generally the tactics is: help my troops as much as I can but to the defenders I pretend I am not there It works no more if the numbers are 3:1 however, if the enemies are too many there will always be a smart archer or an axeman to get me down while my troops are (almost) no more, the reinforcements not yet in, then they direct their attention to me. ;(

Can't get enough huscarls, so I usually have Swadian and Rhodok sergeants with me and a lot of sharpshooters and marksmen. Rhodok sergeants are prefect for siege towers, their big shields are all covered with arrows but they keep on standing for a long time.